Blackjack's audio and neons

[Spas]

Well, I've only been putting this off for a year now

I know there's a seperate forum for lighting, but almost all my neons concern my sound system, which is composed of:

2 JL Audio 10W6's, affectionately named 'bump' and 'thump' (yeah, I know one's older and has a smaller dome than its brother, werkin on fixin that)

1 Kenwood 729S , wired to run both of them and hidden behind a home made plexiglass cover with etched edges (hard to tell in the pics, but it looks like ice at night with the neon on)

1 Pair Pioneer 3/4" dome tweets flush mounted in the front doors

1 Pair Pioneer 1" dome tweets surface mounted on B pillar

1 Pair Pioneer 5x7" 3 Ways in front factory door speaker housings

1 Pair Pioneer 5x7" 2 Ways in rear factory door speaker housings

Pioneer 6 CD Changer mounted in armrest

Pioneer DEH...uhm...(it's been so long since it was installed i forget what the numbers are, lol) it's the first Dot Matrix headunit they came out with, if that helps

Can't tell I'm a Pioneer fan, can ya?

As for Neons:

Yes I do have 2 Wal Mart 10" rings, I admit it
The sub box in the pictures is the third one that I built, after the first two revealed themselves to be too small on air capacity. It's a sealed design so I could keep it small enough to fit under the cargo cover (I live in a bad neighborhood). Nothing special, but I bought some black vinyl/pleather to line the inside with and make the neons more appealing, then cut and drilled a piece of plexi to keep the subs safe. The glass is showing some scratches, but hey, it does its job well! Lizardtrac was kind enough to make me an 'etched glass' Ford symbol, which looks absolutely bad@$$ when backlit...


I also have a single 6" neon stuck to the dash under the AC controls,

two 15" neons in the pass and driverside floorwells,

four 15" crackle ice neons mounted behind the B and C pillars

and this incredibly goofy knight rider light stuck to the windshield in the vicinity of the rearview mirror (can't get a pic of it, too hard to focus on)

I also have my smurf lights in the airdam, which the guys LOOOOOVE to rip on They're illegal as he!!, but very cool looking at car shows, IMHO.

Just want to say a mega thanks to Lizard for talking me into the JL's and for all his technical expertise, as well as Savage Wolf, who wired the amp, came up with the idea for my switchplate and wired everything so well that I have to cut it with Dremel to make changes, lol.
On to the pictures!

 

[Spas]

 

[Spas]

Luv my smurf lights

 

[Crankcase]

Looks good. Is that Fford symbol Lizards work?

 

[Spas]

Dunno if you can make out the name of the song on the headunit, but it's ''Exploder" by Audioslave- just thought it was appropriate

Dashboard switches, from left to right:
1) Smurf lights
2) Hella 500's
3) knight rider light
4) front neons (footwells, dash and roof)
5) rear neons (sub rings, amp)
6) 2wd switch (my FAVORITE mod on the whole
truck...can we say.... "BURNOUTS"? hee hee)

 

[Spas]

Looks good. Is that Fford symbol Lizards work?

Yup! He made me two and when I asked why, he said "Cuz you'll mess one up, I know it.." Sure enough, put it on crooked the first time

Here's the amp, mounted in the rear quarter panel...man that was a pita to remove! We mounted it to a piece of 3/4" MDF and covered it with matching grey carpet. The little box in there controls the ring neons.

 

[Doug]

6) 2wd switch (my FAVORITE mod on the whole truck...can we say.... "BURNOUTS"? hee hee)

I never should have shown chris how to do the 2wd mod...

 

[Spas]

I never should have shown chris how to do the 2wd mod...

Yeah, it's all your fault that I have no tread anymore, Fug

Amp lit up..kinda blurry, sorry!

 

[davesexplorer]

Just wanted to add that this is a cool system.. you ever get it metered? Just went to a comp, and got 1st in my class with a 147db.... cant wait to get mine finished!!! got my box covered in gray vinyl, got my 2 1200watt amps in mail, and I got a weekend off!!! cant wait!
NEON RULES, (gotta get some strobes though!)
later,

 

[jssong]

does the piece of plexi cover the subs airtight? if it is, how is the sub pushing any air if covered by the plexi?

looks great by the way.

 

[RoadEnforcer]

Nice looking Spas, if only I could have seen the final product at King of Prussia. By the way, how do those subs sound?

 

[Spas]

Thanks for all the compliments

Jssong, the plexi did cut off the air, that's why I got longer screws and rubber grommets- at full tilt, the plexi will bend outwards, even though it's 1/4" thick

Dave, I *REALLY* wish I had seen yours at Carlisle..Mike (99 sport) really wants to go to a sound off in July, at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ if you're interested (it's open to everybody). I'm curious to see just how loud mine are, although I know they're nowhere NEAR as loud as Tom's W7

The only thing I don't like about this setup is the fact that they sound like crap unless the rear hatch is closed for them to echo off of-you can't even hear them outside Blackjack, but there's enough bass inside to shake my rearview mirror off the windshield! Probably should have stopped at 30 feet of dynamat...

 

[Redrig]

that looks absolutely awesome!!! very nice. now im gonna have to work on mine. after my tranny comes back.

 

[jssong]

thanks for the info spas.. i was considering a completely plexi box, with either 3/4 or 1 inch thick plexi. i might do somethign similar to your setup, by just strips of plexi so my subs are protected.

 

[Spas]

Thanks, Redrig

Jssong, I've seen completely 'glass enclosures for sale on Ebay and at Tweeter stores, as well as little specialty shops here and there...can't recall how much they were offhand, but they look pretty wicked when lined inside with strips of neon

 

[jssong]

i was at a car show.. island fest on long island coupel weeks ago, and this shop offered a completely plexi box, with 1/2 inch plexi, with neons, and 2 12s for $299. i havent had a chance to go check them out, but i just might.

 

[snobrder9186]

I LOVE YOUR SETUP!!!

Haha your setup is almost exactly what I had in mind for mine! Instead of the square box I was going to have mine slightly tilted and have an Infinity symbol instead of a ford. Great job! Approx. how much did it cost you to make the box including carpet and plexi? Hey Doug and Spas, how do you do that 2wd mod your talking about? Hehe... sounds kinda fun...

 

[Spas]

hmmm..never really added it up, let's see if I can recall how much it cost me:

'Bout $200 for two Jl 10w6's (used)
$15 for a sheet of 3/4" MDF
tools and saw table were borrowed
$10 for sheet of 1/4" plexi, cut down to size at Home Depot
Decal would probably cost about $15 from a dealer
Ring Neons were $25
$15 for 3 bottles of Liquid Nail (it's funny, when I crank them all the way up, you can smell the liquid nail, lol)
$3 for the plug plate
$5 for pair of banana jacks
$20 2rolls of WalMart grey carpet
$7 for all the zinc screws and finishing bezels, plus
grommets
Lots of staples and lots of glue

Glad Y'all like...I originally had it set at an angle too so it would fire more towrds the hatch glass, but JL's not kidding when they say "build the box to these specs unless you're a pro". I think one of the original 10W6's I had inthe prototype blew out from the lack of air

Talk to Doug about the 2wd mod (also known as the brown wire mod)- I was too busy doing other things to pay attention when Lizard put installed it for me. It does make a helluva difference though!

 

[mohog]

how much dynamat do you have?
really like the lights, i have a thing for strobes though, you need to get some of those. there fun. great setup with the amp rack setup in the quarterpanel, i'm working on one for my 4 channel rf i just got

 

[X~FACTOR]

off topic: how wide are those tires of yours? They look really good from that front shot.